Southampton Vs. Arsenal on Sat@8

Gunner89

So (actual) football is back and quite frankly it couldn't come back sooner

The league cup defeat for some reason seems like it was a long time ago

Life has been a handful recently, could do with a comfy cup win with max stealing the show again

Sicario2

My team:

Kepa

White
Mosquera
Calafiori
MLS

Nogaard
Odegaard
Havertz

Dowman
Jesus
Martinelli

Southampton are undefeated since Jan so won’t be easy but they do have a huge game v Wrexham away (both battling for play off spots) on Monday evening so perhaps they will have one eye on that.

Qwiss

Sicario2 Cala just played 2 competitive games including extra time while Gab and Saliba took the week off. One of them should start.

Klaus

Qwiss Yeah I expect both of them to start to shore up the defence. We'll struggle in attack probably so we'll have to compensate by being defensively strong or we could end up losing the game.

I'll be pissed if Kepa tends the goal as a reward for last time, but it is what it is I guess.

banduan

isn't the lineup basically the only lads who are fit? Might even see Marli back at CB again, even though this should be too much for him.

Lukazan

Would love to see Dowman start but does anyone actually think he will?

Had a dream we lost this btw, 6-1. 🤣 Didn't watch the match in the dream, just saw we were 1nil up and then, after doing a load of dream things, settled down to watch the youtube highlights, totally convinced we'd have surely won, only to see the scoreline on the video thumbnail...

Claudius

Lukazan Dowman and MLS will start

awooga83

For a ticket for this which is my first away game I've actually been able to see in the UK 😂 got to drive down to Southampton though so it'll start earlier then normal.

Not sure what the team will be, would think we might try and get away with rotation in some positions but then Arteta does also love to not do that.. First match since the cup defeat so will be interesting to see what we do. It feels we should have enough even if we did rotate but as always it's the goals I can't add readily see.

Claudius

Klaus Let Kepa keep. But this is his last game. If we win, he cannot keep at Wembley

Klaus

Claudius Can't help but feel that he'll cost us again, especially if we field a subpar team.

Southampton are unbeaten for 14 games straight: they haven't lost since the beginning of January. We shouldn't underrate them. I wouldn't be surprised if they managed to grab the second direct promotion spot to Premier League at their current pace. Playing an idiot like Kepa could be the difference between a loss and a penalty shootout.

invisibleman18

Pretty much. It's likely he'll have been promised it again so even if we get through we know how it ends at Wembley.

Burnwinter

Pretty sure Arteta will back himself as he did last time, it's how he is. If we fail to progress, it'll be a black mark against Arteta even if Kepa doesn't make errors. As we saw in the League Cup final, fielding a keeper the XI is collectively worried about causes more problems than goalkeeping errors.

Panda

Hard to know who is fit and who isn't but I'd go for:
Kepa
White-Mosquera-Gabriel-MLS
Norgaard
Ode-Havertz
Saka-Jesus-Trossard

And look to sub Ode, Havertz, Saka, Trossard, Gabriel if possible.

Phil

Kepa has given up any right to play - and he should be sold if he whines about it. Raya more than deserves to start it now that we're onto the serious trophies.

USArsenal

If Kepa plays, i dont think it will be past this round. Once (if) we get to the semis, then it becomes a major trophy chance, and Raya takes over at that point. The Carabao cup is one thing.. FA Cup is something else entirely

Claudius

USArsenal we can't afford to half step. and Kepa will understand that.
one day we will need to think about getting a back-up keeper who better supports our offensive game. we have so much of the ball that a keeper who supports offense is actually more important than the shot stopping abilities.

Klaus

USArsenal I agree but I'm not sure Arteta sees it like that unfortunately. I think he has decided he's gonna trust Kepa no matter what, otherwise it would be the easiest thing in the world to just play Raya today. If he's needed in the semi-final then why not today when we're probably lining up with half a team? When's the need for a better keeper greater than now?

This is exactly why you should never promise games to any players, but especially not the shitty ones. Who the hell cares about whether they stay or go in the summer?

I think Arteta sees the FA cup as a chance to double down on his stance instead of going back on his word. It's going to be Kepa all the way through and we're gonna get knocked out again at some point while he lets in a couple of balls that you'd have complete confidence in Raya saving.

Panda

As much as we may not like it or agree with it, in Arteta's eyes Kepa is the cup keeper so he will play all the cup matches just like he played the CC final.

Sicario2

Bar Gab for Cala that is the team I wished for (and predicted)